The invention relates to a cargo container apparatus as used in marine and automotive truck applications, the apparatus being adapted to carry and dump bulk granulated material
Much of the worlds' grain, minerals or other granulated material is transported on water by bulk marine carriers, and on land by railway tanker cars. When granulated material arrives in tanker cars at a terminal facility at a dockside, it is often unloaded by dumping through discharge openings in a bottom wall thereof, termed "bottom dumping". The granulated material is emptied from the tanker cars onto conveyors, etc. for loading into an elevator, or open piles, and is then loaded into a bulk marine carrier. The specialized terminal facilities for transferring grain, etc. from tanker cars to elevators as described above is costly, and is only cost effective when handling relatively large quantities of material. Furthermore, particularly with food grain material that might be damaged by dampness, it is usual to agitate the material by pouring it through air from one location in the elevator to another. In this way, excessive dampness is removed by the ambient air, and the growth of mold, fungus, etc. is reduced or eliminated.
When relatively small quantities of granulated material are to be handled or shipped, handling and storage costs increase considerably when compared with the larger quantities that are economical with the specialized bulk handling facilities. In order to reduce the cost of handling relatively small quantities of granulated material, the present inventor proposes modifications to conventional goods container apparatus, which are normally used for handling packaged or non-bulk goods which require individual loading into containers usually using forklift trucks.
Conventional goods containers, are, in general, unsuitable for handling bulk granulated material for several reasons as follows. Most containers have a pair of hinged doors provided at one end of the container, and thus material can only be emptied or loaded through these doors. Consequently, to empty a prior art container filled with granular material, the container would have to be grasped by a gripping or lifting head of a container handling equipment, eg a crane, so that the closed end of the container is raised above the open end, to permit the material to discharge through the open end of the container. This would be inconvenient in any facilities which tend to be restricted on space.
To the inventor's knowledge, food grain materials are not shipped in any quantity by conventional containers. If food grain were stored or shipped in such containers, agitation of the grain to prevent damage from dampness as described would be difficult as emptying containers through the doors at the end of the container is difficult. Because containers are usually stacked four or five containers high in the storage facility, transferring grain from one container to another to permit air drying as described above would be difficult. Furthermore, it would require considerable space, skill and manpower to ensure the grain is handled without excessive loss of grain, or damage to the containers.
While some containers are provided with openings in an upper wall thereof, to the inventor's knowledge no containers are provided with bottom dumping facilities which can be used for discharging granulated material from the container.